Timeline of Earth-4 (alternate timelines)

Each of the following alternate timelines shares the same past as the main Earth-4 timeline but diverges at some point. Wherever possible, the point of divergence is noted.

Rex Dexter of Mars

1939

September: World War II begins with the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union. This is a much more protracted war and stays contained on the eastern continents. Although the United States provides assistance to England, it does not participate in the war.

October: During the 1939 New York World's Fair, scientist Montague Dexter and his wife Norma, along with two other couples, leave on a rocketship of his own invention, the destination: Mars. When the voyagers are never seen again, the public believes them to have died in the voyage.

1940

July: Richard Dexter, the son of Montague Dexter and his wife, is born in space en route to Mars. Very shortly after, they crash-land on Mars. There, they are befriended by one of Mars' intelligent species. Montague spends his time slowly repairing his rocketship while also building and selling robots for the next sixty years. Note: Since Rex Dexter is the first human born on Mars, then his father (Montague's son Richard) must have been born in space on the way there.

1950s

World War II finally ends after laying waste to the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa after more than a decade of war. England remains largely untouched by the war, while the United States and the other countries in the Americas remain uninvolved, and only the United States' space program is officially continued.

1960s

A secret space program in Europe is run by scientist Boris Thorax, helped by his communication with an alien species with a base on the Moon. They exchange technology with him in trade for the promise of obtaining human slaves.

1970

Caroline Dean, an astronaut, crash-lands on Mars during an ill-fated space mission. The only survivor, she is found by Montague and Richard Dexter, who marries her. Note: This is speculation and has never been shown in a story.

1971

Rex Dexter is the first human born on Mars, the grandson of scientist Montague Dexter and the son of Richard Dexter and his wife, Caroline Dexter, nee Dean.

Sometime after Rex's birth, his parents die or go missing, and Montague raises Rex as his own son. Note: This explains why Montague is referred to as both Rex's father and grandfather.

1980s

By this time, space travel has broadened to the commercial sector, and corporations have begun training space pilots for cargo and passenger flights through outer space. The entire solar system is explored, including Mars. However, Montague Dexter retains his and his family's secrecy for now.

2000

After helping his grandfather finally repair his antique rocketship, Rex Dexter of Mars visits Earth for the first time and begins adventures as an interplanetary adventurer. During his first visit he meets a beautiful space-pilot from Earth named Cynde, and the two fall in love and eventually become engaged. Note: Rex is originally called Montague's son, but in the second story he is called his grandson; if he is Montague's grandson by a son, that would make Rex's mother a Martian, unless somehow a human woman from Earth arrived on Mars; otherwise Dexter's mother may be of the same humanoid Martian race as Queen Thula and other Martians that appear identical to humans, some of whom also possess great strength. The Moon is currently occupied by a non-native extraterrestrial species that seeks human slaves. The U.S. president is named President Grover. [Mystery Men Comics #1-24, Rex Dexter of Mars #1, Eagle #1]

Dexter stops the plan of European scientist and would-be dictator Boris Thorax to crash a small planetoid called Tarsis into the United States. He is aided by Thorax's former assistant, Vesoff.

When an outbreak of a virulent plague hits the population of Earth, Dexter leads a group of men via rocketship to the planet Capris, where they retrieve the amounts of radium necessary for stopping the plague. Since they are unable to retrieve enough radium because of interference by Capris natives, Dexter devises a plan to bring Capris closer to Earth to help cure the last of the plague victims.

Dexter explores a cone-shaped planetoid, where he finds an Earthman who plans to bring a giant apelike beast living on it back to Earth. After the Earthman tries to kill him, Dexter kills him instead and brings the beast back to Earth to put on display. Unfortunately, after the beast escapes and goes on a rampage in New York City, forcing Dexter to kill it, he is hated by the fickle population and officially exiled by U.S. President Grover. Dexter and his girlfriend Cynde leave the Earth.

On the way back to Mars, Dexter's ship hits a meteorite and is forced to land on the planet Ursis. There, he and Cynde are captured by robots controlled by an Earthman called Lord Marvel, who controls Ursis and apparently has control of the entire planetary system. After Marvel attempts to use his control to destroy the Earth, Dexter defeats him, and Marvel dies on Ursis when his laboratory explodes.

Passing through a cosmic storm, Dexter's ship inadvertently passes through a wormhole taking him to a strange multi-star system called the Robot star system, where the laws of physics differ and time passes very rapidly. After aging to an old man, Dexter defeats the master of the system and flees with Cynde, and regains his youth when passing out of the system's time influence.

After a passing giant meteor shears off a large section of Asia, creating the Bald Spot and releasing dangerous creatures called the Protoplasmen, Dexter is recalled to Earth and stops the menace. Thanks to his help, Dexter's exile is lifted, and he is considered a hero once more by Earthmen.

Dexter oversees the rebuilding of the Bald Spot, planning and helping to construct a revolutionary advanced city. During the land's first election, Dexter foils a plot to kill the rightfully elected new president by his rival.

During his second attempt to return to Mars with Cynde, Dexter visits a planet ruled by his friend Reyni and learns that Earth is under attack by the tyrant Tauro, whose planet is named after him. Dexter travels to Tauro and ends the menace to Earth before heading off for Mars once more.

At some point after his last published adventure, Rex Dexter and Cynde return to Mars, where they are eventually married.

2015

Rex Dexter II, the son of Rex and Cynde Dexter, is born on Mars. His best friend since birth is a girl named Cynde (named after Rex's mother), born to one of the other families. By the time they reach adulthood, they have fallen in love.

2040

Rex Dexter II opens a sealed tube left to him by his great-grandfather Montague Dexter in 1939, which instructs his youngest male descendant to repair his old rocketship and return to Earth to see the progress of civilization and report to them about their Martian experiment. Rex Dexter helps his son Rex Dexter II to fully repair and equip the rocketship to fly back to Earth, and Cynde insists on accompanying him. After a months-long voyage, Rex and Cynde reach Earth to find that it has become a technological wonderland.

Operation Tomorrow

1950

April: Prof. Wilbur Malcolm of New York's City University invents a time machine. He sends his assistant Fred Andrews into the future date of April 10, 2050, where Andrews discovers that America has become a totalitarian state that has been at war for 95 years (since 1955), leaving the surface uninhabitable and driving the civilization literally underground. He learns that an accident in 1955 will spark the 95-year war, and he returns to the present to prevent the war, but upon his return his memory is completely lost. [“Operation Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

Work begins on the first space rocket at Red Rock, Arizona, which is chosen as a more preferable site than Cape Canaveral as the preferred base for NASA. [“Operation Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

1955

December: An accident occurs at an airbase in Red Rock, Arizona, causing the entire base to be destroyed. The Soviets are wrongly blamed for sabotaging the base, and the incident sparks a war between the USA and the USSR that would last off and on for 95 years to the year 2050. [“Operation Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

2050

April 10: Fred Andrews, a time traveler from the year 1950, arrives to discover that America has become a totalitarian state at war for 95 years (since 1955), leaving the surface uninhabitable and driving the civilization literally underground. He learns that an accident in 1955 will spark the 95-year war, and he returns to the present to prevent the war, but upon his return his memory is completely lost. [“Operation Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

Farnsworth Dictatorship

1951

October: A politician named Farrington Farnsworth gains the heart of the people with an important speech, beginning his swift rise to political power. [“The Most Famous Man in the World,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

1964

U.S. politician Farrington Farnsworth becomes the U.S. President. [“The Most Famous Man in the World,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

1972

U.S. President Farrington Farnsworth becomes the first U.S. dictator, beginning a 200-year-long dictatorship led by him and his descendants. [“The Most Famous Man in the World,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

2228

Jon and Susi Doon travel through time back to the year 1951 to assassinate a then-unknown politician named Farrington Farnsworth, preventing him from later becoming the U.S. President in 1964 and then the first U.S. dictator in 1972, the first in a 200-year-long dictatorship. Farnsworth is believed by the world to have died from a natural heart attack. The assassination causes Susi (Farnworth's direct descendant) to vanish into nothingness before Jon returns alone to the changed future era of 2228. [“The Most Famous Man in the World,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

Gorgo and the Giant Aliens

1964

In an alternate timeline, Soviet scientists located in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe create a duplicate of Gorgo, which they send to the Moon and accidentally send the real Gorgo there too instead of a second duplicate. Soviet cosmonauts reach the Moon, followed by U.S. astronauts. The real Gorgo battles giant extraterrestrials there. The cosmonauts and the astronauts then team up to allow Gorgo to be returned to Earth, while one U.S. astronaut stays behind with the Gorgo duplicate in order to make first contact with the extraterrestrials and establish peaceful relations with them. Note: Since the historical first Moon landing took place in July, 1969, rather than August, 1964, the events of this story must either take place in an alternate timeline or were classified by both the USA and the USSR. [Gorgo #20]

circa 1974

Giant extraterrestrials invade Earth and destroy Los Angeles, Moscow, and Johannesburg. Gorgo and Ogra battle the aliens, driving them back to their own planet, never to return. Note: Since this story is stated to take place in the 1970s and features world-changing events such as the complete destruction of Los Angeles, Moscow, and Johannesburg, this story must take place in an alternate timeline. The events in this issue therefore do not occur in the main Earth-4 timeline, although it is possible that an invasion by these giant extraterrestrials was prevented by the Sentinels of Justice sometime in the 1970s. [Gorgo #18]

Doomsday + 1

1996

April 7: An experimental rocket with Capt. Boyd Ellis, Jill Malden, and Ikei Yashida blasts off into space. At the same time, a small-time dictator named General Rykos, who is about to be ousted from power and brought to trial for his crimes, decides he would rather end the world than face justice. He rockets two nuclear warheads, one to Moscow and one to New York City, causing World War III to break out between the United States (led by President Cole) and the Soviet Union (led by Premier Mikhail Bekinov), each believing the other responsible for the nuclear bombs. The minutes-long nuclear war kills seven billion people and gives rise to the world of Doomsday + 1. The rocket crew floats around in space for eight days, then touches back down on Earth in Greenland on April 15, 1996, where they encounter the unfrozen third century Goth warrior, Kuno. The four search for survivors across the Earth, battling along the way such threats as the Soviet cyborg mad scientist Dr. Vladislav Yomorov and his robot army, the extraterrestrial robotic Peacekeepers, the Gill-Men of the underwater Hidden Empire and the Amphibians, corrupt militia men, and advanced humans from an alternate timeline who make slaves of people from different timelines. [Doomsday + 1 #1-6; Charlton Bullseye #4-5]

1997

Capt. Boyd Ellis, Jill Malden, Ikei Yashida, and Kuno – now together for a year – discover that the use of a super-atomic bomb has begun creating pockets of time all across the world, displacing the devastated landscape. In one of the pockets of time, in which a new ice age has occurred, the four meet Stinson Tempest, a time traveler from the 40th century of the normal Earth-4 timeline. The four make the Aerie – Tempest's base – their new home, and Tempest equips them with futuristic costumes. [Charlton Bullseye #5]

Children of Doom

1996

An American scientist invents the Doomsday Machine in order to prevent nuclear war, as the Doomsday Machine will destroy the entire planet if anyone sets off an atomic bomb. An Eastern European dictator unleashes his cosmic storm device, which does not trigger the Doomsday Device but spreads over the world and kills most of the population. The remaining humans become mutants with strange powers – the Children of Doom. Astronauts Hank Burgess and Joe Joyce witness the devastation from orbit above Earth and leave for the inhabitable planet Venus. There, they encounter a human mutant with the power to travel through the universe. When they return to the Earth months later, their atomic-powered rockets trigger the Doomsday Machine, setting it to destroy the world in 24 hours. The mutant uses his power to travel backward in time to when the Doomsday Machine was assembled, and he causes it to malfunction so that in the present it does not work. The Children of Doom begin rebuilding their devastated world. [Charlton Premiere v2 #2]

Space: 1999

1970

The Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (SHADO), a top secret group, is founded in response to the first confirmed landing of a UFO on Earth. It is soon given official approval by a secret United Nations Security Council meeting. [UFO (1970 ITC television series)]

1980

SHADO becomes operational. [UFO (1970 ITC television series)]

1985

Dr. Ernst Queller invents the Queller drive, making long-range space voyage possible. The drive achieves incredibly high speeds by spewing out fast neutrons that annihilate anything in its path. Because of its destructive capabilities, it is very controversial. [“Voyager's Return,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

Voyager 1 is launched to probe the galaxy for signs of intelligent life, find habitable solar systems, and make man's presence known in the galaxy. It is computer-controlled and equipped with the Queller drive. Note: In actual history, Voyager 1 is an ordinary robotic space probe launched in 1977. It should be noted that Star Trek: The Motion Picture, released some years after this episode, also uses Voyager (“V'ger”) as a threat. [“Voyager's Return,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

Voyager 2, also equipped with the Queller drive is launched with the same mission as Voyager 1. Unfortunately, the Queller drive cuts in too soon, killing 200 people. Because of his notoriety after this tragedy, Dr. Ernst Queller changes his name to Dr. Ernst Linden. [“Voyager's Return,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

1986

Final work on Moonbase Alpha, Earth's defense base against alien invasion, is completed. The Moon is used as a storage facility for nuclear waste, which is deemed too dangerous to leave on Earth. [Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

The manned Uranus Probe sets off for that planet, but all in the relatively large crew are believed dead. In fact, they survive on a strange planet they named Ultima Thule, which has the properties of where they become immortal and experience at least 884 years of life before meeting some of the crew of Moonbase Alpha. [“Death's Other Dominion,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

1996

January: The Astro 7 mission, which includes astronaut Lee Russell, is lost while in orbit around Jupiter. Each of the astronauts is somehow changed into antimatter and scattered to a different place in the universe. Russell lands on a planet later dubbed New Terra. [“A Matter of Life and Death,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

1999

September 13: Stored nuclear waste on the moon explodes, causing the moon to leave both its orbit around Earth and the solar system itself. The 311-member international crew of Moonbase Alpha (alias Moon City), also known as the Alphans, have adventures encountering alien life as they travel through interstellar space. Moonbase Alpha's original command crew – Comm. John Koenig, Dr. Helena Russell, Paul Morrow, Alan Carter, Prof. Victor Bergman, and Sandra Benes – is later joined by science officer Maya, a metamorph from the planet Psychon. Note: The premise of Space: 1999 as it stands is implausible for several reasons, including the fact that a nuclear blast would have destroyed the Moon rather than send it rocketing through space, and also because the Moon would have had to reach faster-than-light speed in order to leave the solar system within weeks. Obviously, some kind of interference occurs. Possibly the aliens that menaced the Earth in the 1970s and 1980s (see the UFO series by Gerry Anderson), as a preliminary to invasion, remotely trigger a contained nuclear explosion on the Moon as an accelerant, then use spacewarp technology to create giant warps through the space in the Moon's path, causing it to leave the solar system and travel throughout deep space. The crew of Moonbase Alpha would remain unaware of this interference and could only speculate as to what causes their rapid travel; the fact that this is not discussed in any published story does not mean it was not discussed at all. The absence of the Moon, of course, would leave the Earth without the protection of Moonbase Alpha, thus leading to a full-scale invasion of Earth by the aliens. [Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series); Space: 1999 (comic) #1-7; Space: 1999 (magazine) #1-8]

The Alphans visit the planet Pearl and encounter an advanced slug-like lifeform that long ago evolved from a humanoid species. Each slug is a city of hundreds of minds. [Space: 1999 (comic) #1]

The Alphans visit Planet Green and encounter vegetation that is able to create duplicates of anything. [Space: 1999 (magazine) #1]

While scouting out a planet the Alphans dub Terra Nova, they find Dr. Helena Russell's husband, Lee Russell, who went missing on a mission to Jupiter in 1994, but he is no longer human and is made of antimatter. He warns the Alphans not to visit the planet. When they do, everyone visiting the planet except Helena dies, and the Moon itself explodes, killing everyone on Moonbase Alpha. Lee explains to Helena that he and the planet are antimatter, and she must leave. Briefly given his power, she warps time and saves everyone, and the Alphans abandon Terra Nova. Note: An indeterminate amount of time has passed between “Breakaway” and this episode, during which time Koenig says the Alphans have experienced many things that were unexplainable. Therefore, some of the events shown in the Space: 1999 comic-book and magazine probably take place before this episode. [“A Matter of Life and Death,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

The Alphans discover that the Moon is now being drawn toward the gravity well of a black sun (black hole). Prof. Bergman erects a forcefield to protect Moonbase Alpha, while a small number of people are sent off in a survival ship. Approaching the black sun, strange things happen, and Koenig and Bergman meet a divine being they assume to be God, then they find themselves unharmed in another part of the universe. Shortly, the survival crew miraculously returns to Moonbase Alpha, the only explanation being that a divine being is watching out for the Alphans. Note: Pilot Mike Ryan, who is romantically involved with Sandra Benes, dies in this episode. Because the Moon passed through a black hole, it is probable that it also traveled through time several centuries into the future, as indicated in later episodes. [“Black Sun,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

The Moon is pulled into orbit around a bright probe from the planet Triton, whose endless mission is to collect information. The probe takes control of Dr. Helena Russell, who transmits information from Moonbase Alpha's computers to the probe, but it is slowly killing her. Comm. Koenig reveals to the probe that the planet Triton, some two billion light years away from Earth, has already been destroyed when its sun went nova. Its mission over, the probe releases Dr. Russell and self-destructs, releasing the Moon. [“Ring Around the Moon,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

The Alphans meet six peaceful aliens from the planet Kaldor, who are relocating to Earth after their planet was destroyed. The trip to Earth will be approximately 75 years to make. Commissioner Simmonds, the politician largely responsible for having nuclear waste stored on the Moon, suggests to Koenig that they seize the alien craft and head for Earth. Instead, Koenig agrees that one human can go back to Earth with the Kaldorians. Simmonds connives to be that man, even going so far as to take hostages, and after the Kaldorians in suspended animation are headed back to Earth, Simmonds awakes 75 years too early and realizes he must spend the rest of his life alone on the ship. [“Earthbound,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

After the Moon passes through a rift in space, the Alphans begin to experience double vision and soon come across an Earth that has been devastated by war. Moreover, there is another Moon as well, with another Moonbase Alpha, that is on a collision course with their Moon. They soon realize that some Alphans from that Moon have survived and thrived on the single liveable spot on Earth, and that they are their doubles from a parallel timeline. Their doubles on Earth explain that they must return to their Moon, despite the fact that it will collide with the other Moon, or the presence of the Alphans will kill all their Alphan doubles on Earth. The Moons collide, and instead of disaster, time resets itself. [“Another Time, Another Place,” Space: 1999 (1975 ITC/RAI television series)]

U.F.O.

3998 A.D.

By this time humans have mutated to have chalk white skin and large heads, and the Earth's two hemispheres are divided. The western hemisphere is controlled by the Esrom Nation, and the eastern hemisphere is controlled by the Honjnos Nation. The Great War breaks out between the two nations, nearly destroying the planet. [Space Adventures v2 #60 (Space Adventures Presents U.F.O. #1); Space Adventures v3 #2]